Nemesis Rising
by BigRedCanuck
Summary: [NEW! Chapter 6 posted Mar 11th 2005- On the Eve of Anubis's Defeat, O'Neil isn't the only one who pays a price. Half a world away a young man who knows nothing about the Stargate is about to be thrust into it's dangerous universe.
1. Chapter 1 posted April 28th 2004

Author's Note:  Okay, This just popped into my head and I wrote it sort of hastily.  I have an idea of where I want to go, and how to flesh it out, making it continually better as time goes on.. But I'll only do it if people think it doesn't completely suck.  So, be honest in your critique.  Thanks.

**Chapter 1 – Faller Star**

Pensacola was on fire.

The sight, so preposterous, made Lawson ill.  Long and rather narrow tracts of land from the east traveling west were glowing with hundreds of small fires.  The black and orangeish-red line of fire drew it's way right over two counties, crossing streets and yards and parking lots and forest and swamp.

Lawson know that very few people had been killed here…  His own house had been spared.  Thank god the area's population was so spread out.  But it was uncanny how the line of heavenly fire had stitched it's was across two military bases that were less then thirty miles apart.  He didn't know exactly how bad Egland Air force Base was, but Naval Air Station Pensacola was pretty much a burnt out ruin.

He wasn't military himself, but many of his friends were.  Mainly Navy.  He shuddered to think how many of them had been in that battle fleet in the Atlantic just off of Florida before the meteor shower struck and cut's it's swath across the panhandle.  It was uncanny.  It was so improbable.

And it scared the hell out of Lawson Weiss.

The young man was driving against traffic, hundred and thousands of people trying to get out of Pensacola as quickly as possible.. Just in case more meteors fell.  The Mile long bridge between the counties was full of frightened, panic drivers with cars stuffed full of family, pets, and belongings they just couldn't bare not have.  Lawson was one of the few that were fighting their way back into the city.

The moment Lawson Cleared the bridge and was only a few miles out of the city he found that his routes were almost all blocked off…Only a few hundred meters away from the burning line had gouged the soft, loamy soil.  The road had cracked and shifted.

Some cars were stuck in the mud, helpless.  Too many people not having real 4x4's.. and if the did they had them lowered.. Damned flatlanders.  Lawson was a Northerner who had come to Florida almost 5 years earlier, and had kept his old raised Fx4 Ford.. Which at this moment was going to provide him with a shortcut.

He veered off the road and across the swathe of cindered and muddy field, the large blue truck throwing up a cloud of muck behind him.  He flew through the trees and over a small hill.. soon out of sight of the road.  If he kept this up, he should come out somewhere near Vivian's apartment complex.

Her name struck a fearful cord in him.  With the phone lines down and cell networks all jammed up, it had been impossible to get through to her.  He was so scared she was hurt.. Or worse.. But refused to give up on her.  She was the best friend he had in this town.  A naval woman who had, since her divorce, been raising her son alone while she serve at the Navy Hospital.  When Lawson had moved to Pensacola it had been at her urgings.  They had met online in a chat room.  She needed a friend nearby.  He needed a new place to go, someplace far away from where he was at the time…  it was perfect.

Lost almost in her fear, Lawson almost didn't see the glowing light above him, growing closer and closer..  Another Meteor?  It couldn't be?  Wasn't the shower over?  There hadn't been any more for almost an hour.

No time to think.  He swerved, clipping a tree, as something hot and very massive struck the ground a few dozen yards behind him.  It causes a ripple of land, like a wave, to push out form the contact point…  Like carpet bunching under someone's pushing foot, the ground surged like surf under the truck and threw it a few feet off the ground.

Lawson Screamed as the Ford struck a large oak tree and, in turn, his head struck the steering wheel.

His world lurched and all went black.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Black faded to grey.

Lawson's eyes slowly fluttered open.  The flicker of something orange nearby cast strange shadows across the dark hollow.  Between the setting sun and the plentitude of dust and smoke in the air, it was almost pitch black.. Like midnight..

Groaning he tried to sit up…  His seat belt pinched, not giving any way for him to move.  Damn thing was broken.  He tugged at it, trying to loosen it's hold on him..  Finally he reached down and, finding the clicker, undid the belt.

And promptly, with help of gravity, fell out of the truck there used to be a door.

With an "oof" he hit the ground and rolled, coming t stop against a tree.  Looking up at his truck again he realized it was wedged between two trees and almost on it's side at about a 60 degree angle.  He blinked a few times..  He must have hit his head harder then he thought if he hadn't noticed that before.

With a grunt he sat up, head spinning.. A warm, oozing trickle running down the side of his head..  He reached up and touched what he thought must have been a small gash.. or maybe it was larger then that..  Nausea washed over him, but whether it was caused by the actual injury or by the thought of injury he couldn't say.

He took a few minutes to catch his breath and let the 'wanting to vomit' feeling subside before he pushed himself up.. sing the tree as a brace he pulled himself to his feet and looked around, getting his bearings.

The truck, apparently, had twirled around at least once.  Because he was almost certain he had been heading in a different direction.  But with no land marks and the darkness it was hard to tell.  He coughed a few times as thick smoke wafted past him..

Smoke?

Then he remembered.. Meteor Strike.  Another meteor struck just behind him.  Pushing off the tree, he staggered towards what he though must be the crater.. Though it seemed more like a furrow in the ground.. As if whatever had hit had done so at an angle and slid.  

With effort he walked up and over the kip of the trench…. And his jaw almost dropped at what he saw.

About 50 meters away was a large silver.. ball like thing.  A sphere.  It might have had a near perfect finish at one point, but it's smooth surface was now scorched and pitted with long gashes caused by it's crash.

Was it a satellite, Lawson thought?  It could have been.  He thought it was possible that the meteor storm had knocked one out of orbit, but he had never heard of a satellite surviving a fiery descent from orbit.  Weren't they designed to break up and burn away?  This thing, for all it's damage, still seemed pretty much intact.

He took a few steps down into the trench and slowly started making his way towards the sphere.  Maybe it was part of an airplane that had been hit by the meteors. Or maybe…

Part of the sphere's side suddenly broke outwards.. A panel that fell off with a crash.  Lawson froze and stared, in disbelief as something, a shadow, pulled itself out of the hole the panel had left behind. 

Like Lawson only a few minutes the shadow seemed to not move but then slowly, after a few moments, it pushed itself off the ground.  It took only a second for Lawson to realize it was a person.

Shaking off his shock, Lawson rushed foreword towards the stranger, waving his hands above his head.  "Hey!" he yelled.  "Hey!  You okay?"  God, it /was/ part of an airplane..  Maybe an escape pod or something.  He had read that some government planes had them. Or had he seen that in a movie?  He didn't care.  A person had just fallen out of the sky and was probably in need of help.

The shadow, startled, stepped back from the approaching young man.  Firelight gleaming off the spherical shell illuminated a feminine face.  Sure, it was bruised and bloody and covered in dirt or smut or whatever.. But it was a woman, Lawson was sure.

With added resolve, Lawson closed the gap, placing his shaking hands on her shoulder. "Miss.. Miss.. Are you okay?" he asked, his voice rambling a mile a minute.  "My god, you are /so/ lucky..  Are you in the military?  Were you in a plane?  Did you se the meteors?"

The woman just stared at Jordan.  She must have been in shock because there was a look of total incomprehension on her hurt and dirty yet still attractive face.  Lawson Shook her by the shoulders.  

"Miss…  Can you speak?  Do you understand me?  What is your name? Who are…"

Without any warning a second Figure stepped out of the hole in the sphere.  Another survivor?  Lawson couldn't catch what the person looked like in the shadow, but he was big, that was for sure.  He let go of the woman and quickly ran over to the tall shadow….

Which, when it stepped into the firelight, made Lawson stop in his tracks.

It wasn't human.. It couldn't be human.  It had the body of a man in amour, with a long staff in his right hand which he used to steady himself.  But where a man's head would be was just a large collar.. Which tapered into a long neck…

Which Ended in a Gleaming metal Jackal's head.

Lawson slipped and fell back, in utter disbelief.  He wanted to scream but he couldn't.. His heart was in his throat, The blood rushing to his head. The Jackal Creature's eyes glowed red and it brought the Staff to bear on Lawson.. The end snapped open.

**_"Ha'taaka,"_**The Monster said_, **"Tau'ri"**_

Lawson couldn't say anything to that.  What did you say when you couldn't understand what was said?  Not that it mattered. The creature obviously.  With a flick of it's wrist the staff's end flared and everything dissolved into a flash of bright light.


	2. Chapter 2 posted April 29th 2004

**_Author's Note:_**_  Well, Lets see where this can go, shall we.. I'm sort of writing this off the cuff, as it were, so please be gentle.  I break easy.  __J Hopefully, as I continue to write my skills will improve._

**Chapter 2 – Faller Star**

****

Everything dissolved into a flash of bright light.

The next thing Lawson experienced was a great force lifting him off the ground and propelling him a feet back and to the side, rolling him on his back.  There was no searing, burning  pain he would have expected from some sort of alien energy weapon..  There was no gaping hole he could feel burned through his body…  The only thing, other then being temporarily blinded by the flash that a heavy weight rested on his chest.

His vision returned in slowly lifting haze of white pinpricks.  It had felt like an eternity but somehow he now realized that barely a second or two had passed.  The face of the woman he had temporarily forgotten in his fear looked down at him.  She lay on top of his body, having tackled him out of the way of the Alien's fire.  Over her shoulder he could see the robotic-like walking jackal stepping closer to them, his weapon retrained on their position..  Lawson felt the panic rise in his mind, screaming like some primordial animal.

But when his eyes locked on the woman's, that fear stopped faded away.  Her eyes, like sparkling emeralds, stared into his.. as if reading him like some book.  Everything slowed around them.  Like someone had hit the half-speed on a DVD player.  The Jackal's movements were painfully arduous, exaggerated.. The woman's eyes bore deeper into his… Then in a single, profound moment everything snapped back into clarity as he saw that she had found something.. The strange female's face softening.

"Do not be afraid." She said in soft, slightly accented English. 

Then here green eyes flashed gold with an inner light and though it was the same face, it's demeanor changed.. Became harder.. More authority.. the face of someone else entirely.. It changed with the fluidity of water.

Before Lawson could react to this amazing and frightful change, she rolled off of him, bringing her hand up.  Palm outwards and fingers splayed, he could see she wore some sort of device made of what looked like jeweled gold.  A thimble like covering adorned each fingertip and in the center of her palm rested a large ruby like stone.

And it glowed with the same intensity her eyes had for that one moment.

The Jaffa stopped in his tracks, looking confused, his staff swiveling to aim at the woman.  He didn't fire.  He didn't have time.  The woman just sneered at him and said two words that Lawson couldn't understand in a voice that set his hair on end…Like a dual harmony of resonances, slightly out of phase.  But while he could understand her words, notr how she spoke that way, he did recognize the strange, cruelly taunting and mocking tone of contempt in her voice.

**_"_****_Jaffa_****_!"_** She said, then narrowed her eyes.

**_"Kree!"_****__**

The crystal in her hand flared and distortion wave, bending the image of whatever it passed like looking through a glass of rippling water, blew outwards.  The wave of force struck the Creature square in the torso and lifted him off the ground, throwing him against the sphere 10 feet back with a sickening crunch-like sound that reverberated throughout the hollow.  The creature slumped to the ground, the glowing red eyes in the exaggerated Jackal's 'face' dimming.. dimming…

Gone.

All was quiet for a few long moments… Then the woman slowly stood up.  She walked carefully towards the fallen alien, her glove-thingy always pointing at it. When it was apparent she thought the thing was dead, she turned to look at Lawson, who was just watching her with a shock induced glaze in his eyes.

**_"Are you injured, Tau'ri?"_**  she asked, the melodious harmony of her voices seeming tinged with concern.  Lawson's gaze never faltered from her, his jaw still slack as his mind tried to comprehend what he had just seen.  So she asked again, putting a bit of forceful authority in her voice.  **_"Tau'ri!"_** she said, louder this time. **_"Are you injured?"_**

This knocked Lawson out of his self induced shock, causing him to blink and shakes his head a few times to get the cobwebs out.  He slowly looked back at Her, her golden-reddish hair flailing in the smoky breeze.  He licked his dry lips, wetting them, and swallowed hard once.  "I.. I'm okay." He said, shakily, and then looked at the unmoving creature prone on the ground.  "Is.. Is that monster dead?" he asked, pointing at it.

The woman looked down at the thing.. Then knelt beside it.  Here free hand, the one not with the ruby contraption, reaches behind the base of it's collar like neck and clicked something.  Then she stood up slowly and backed out of the way so Lawson could see what she had done.

The long neck of the jackal telescoped downwards, into itself, the pointed ears folding backwards behind the metallic skill.. Then the skull spilt and folded behind some plates..  More plates shifted, fanned and un-fanned and folded until they were absorbed by the collar.  When the transformation was complete, Lawson inhaled deeply.

It wasn't a monster.. It was some elaborate mask.. or amour.. or both.  Where the jackals head had been was now the recognizable head of a man with a metal skullcap.. Olive of pallor and with a black tattoo of something that looked.. Egyptian in his forehead.

The woman pointed to the man, whose neck was bent at a very unnatural angle.  "This is your monster, Tau'ri." She said, then spit on the dead man and kicked him once for good measure**_.  "A disgusting _****_Jaffa_****_ who continues to serve the Goa'uld when the rest of his brethren have seen the truth."_**  He leaned over and picked something off the Jaffa's, as she called it, belt.  It looked like a gun of some sort, but the handle was too close to the barrel.  Her fingers curled around the grip and it fold up upwards, like an asp uncoiling and ready to jump.  Depressing the trigger three times, arcs of blue energy lanced out at the Jaffa.  One caused the body to jump.  Two caused the body flail like a marionette.. And the third bolt caused the body to shimmer and collapse on itself as it vaporized.

Lawson Scampered backwards, pulsing himself away from the woman and the body she had incinerated by dragging his but along the ground.  The woman frowned and looked at him, confused as to why he was trying to get away from her.  Then she looked at the weapon in her hands and winced, as if she realized the problem.  She stuck the gun thing ion her belt and waltzed over to the still scampering man and held out her hand to him.

Lawson stopped and stared at her offered hand.. It was the one free of that ruby thing.  He looked into here face, his own a picture of fear and confusion .

**_"I will not harm you, Tau'ri."_** She said, her melodious voice soothing and gentle, afflicted with sincerity.  **_"I swear, on my honor and the honor of the Tok'ra, I am here as a friend. Not an enemy._**

****

It took a moment for Lawson to understand she wasn't going to hurt him.  After what he had just seen.. How she had just dispatched that Jaffa single-handedly, he realized that if she was going to kill him.. He would be dead already.  So he willed his hand, which felt as heavy as cement, to raise off the ground and he slipped his fingers through hers, allowing her to lift him to his feet with surprising strength.  He was really beginning to think that she wasn't quite human.

Duh.

He looked around him.. At the fire and the damage and the sphere and everything else… and then looked back to her.  "Just w.who are you?" he asked, stuttering slightly as he fought to control his tongue.

The woman smiled..  It was a nice smile, even amid the bruises and the smoot.  It made her look almost ageless, defined in grace.  "**_I am Raylana_**" she told him.. then her head drooped and hung bonelessly for a moment..  Lawson was scared that maybe she /had/ been injured and was about o pass out.. But he was wrong.. Because less then a second later she raised her head, eyes open, and smiled again.

It was also a nice smile, but somehow different now.. He couldn't place how.  All her features were the same but it was like.. It was like the driver behind the steering wheel had changed..

"And I am Sitka." She said.  This time the voice was different.. Well, not different.  It was the first voice she had used earlier, before she went all harmonic on him.  

Lawson let his hand slide from hers, the whole two voice and two names thing startling him. "Are you human?" he asked, cautiously.  Hey, he might as well ask.  Considering what had transpired the past ten minutes.

Sitka/Raylana pursed their lips and, after a moment, nodded.  "We are mostly human." She told him.  "But this is not important.  We need to get out of here.  Before someone finds my escape pod.  We need to get away and hide."

"Why?"

Her eyes looked at the pod.. then seemed to looked up at the few stars that were beginning to poke through the smoky above them as night set in.  "Because," she told him, "This isn't over."

And Lawson looked up as well… and gulped.


	3. Chapter 3 posted June 14th 2004

_**Authors Note: Sorry it took so long to continue this. RL has been hard as of late and almost all encompassing. Will try to be more regular about writing now. Enjoy.. and please Review.**_

**Chapter 3 - Alien**

_Alien._

It started to rain.

Lawson hated rain. It wasn't always this way, though. before he moved to Florida he positively loved the rain. How it's cold, piercing wetness could cleanse you to the bone and make you feel so alive.

But Florida rain is nothing like North West Pacific rain, that much he learned very quickly when he first moved here. Florida rain was warm and sticky and didn't piece you. It clung to you like a slimy residue, like algae to the glass of an aquarium that hasn't been cleaned in way too long.

Rain in the Pacific Northwest also had this way of making the rest of the world seem cleaner too. It cooled the air, making everything feel vibrant and sharp. In Florida it only made the air hotter and more humid afterwards then it had before, hence increasing the clingy-slimy effect tenfold.

_Alien._

His day had already been stressful and unpleasant and, to be frank, shocking enough without the rain. With the rain, however, it added a whole new dimension to his mood.

Wasn't it bad enough that he was almost struck by a falling meteor, the last of many that had already lain waste to most of the state? Wasn't it bad enough that said meteor wasn't a meteor, per se, but actually an escape craft from an alien space ship which had been intent on, apparently, wiping out America's military complex and inflicting as much damage as possible to pave a way for invasion. Wasn't it bad enough that said escape craft had deposited two aliens pretty much right into his lap, one of which tried to kill him and the other which saved his life.

Wasn't it bad enough that all his perceptions of the universe had been blown away much like his city, burning away in plumes of dark sooty smoke that turned his daylight world almost into a hazy, dirty, and fire strewn hell of night.

_Alien._

No, it wasn't bad enough.

It started rained.

Lawson grunted and turned away from the youngish woman.. Though woman may have been to strong a word. She was an alien, he tried to remind himself, as impossible as that still sounded to his shock-clouded lump of greymatter.

_Alien._

He hadn't said a word since she had said that 'This wasn't Over', whatever the hell that meant. Sitka, or Raylana, or whatever/whoever she was had returned to the escape pod. The sound of her rustling through the insides could be heard as she, probably, searched for some wonder Alien Device that would scare the pants off of him even more.

_Alien._

He could have ran, then. He could have thrown his arms up in the air and gibbered like some dyslexic teenage drama queen, running in circles. He could have ran away, trying to outrun this strange dream-come-nightmare. He could have ran and tried to contact the Authorities.. The Police... The Military.. The Boy scouts of America.

Immigration and Naturalization Services.

_Alien._

His legs went a bit weak at the knees and he sunk back against the trunk of an oak. The tree,most of it's leaves stripped away by quick gale force winds from the fury of explosions earlier in the day didn't provide much protection from the rain.. but he didn't care about that anymore. Rain that is.

_Alien._

He couldn't run. He couldn't even think straight. The past few hours, the past 30 minutes especially, had finally caught up with Lawson and rendered his brain a nice bowl of jello. The rain and the smoot, clinging to him, were no longer noticed.. He was going numb. Going cold.. shivering now with shock.

_Alien._

He almost didn't feel the cool, smooth hand against his cheek. The long, delicate fingers which had, only minutes earlier, held a weapon and killed an alien monster, slide under his chin and lifted his now slack jaw.. bringing his bloodshot and almost glazed eyes to bare on hers.

"Are you okay?" Sitka asked in his diminutively soft voice, concern tinting the edges. "What happened.. you were fine a few minutes ago?"

Lawson wanted to get up and scream A few minutes ago his world had at least made _some_ sense. A few minutes ago he hadn't had his world view shattered like some baseball flying through a stained-glass church window. A few minutes ago the world had been so much smaller.

He said nothing. 

Her emerald eyes looked into his own.. His being that green-blue aquamarine that could shimmer like a rocky-mountain lake. Her head dipped once, and those eyes closed for a moment, only to return to his a moment later.. the same, but different.. as if her emerald had become more vibrant.. gold added to them if not in actual color then ambience.

_**"He is going into shock.**_" she said.. But not she. Sitka's soft voice was now gone yet not. layered with that melodious duotone of her other personality that cut into the fog of Lawson's brain.. Raylana. _**"We must dispose of the pod so no one else finds it, then find cover. Do you understand this, human?"**_ she asked him. _**"We need a place to hide. And a place for you to rest. Do you understand?"**_

Lawson could only nod, dumbly.

Taking this for a yes, Raylana stood straighter. If he was in the proper state of mind he would have seen that she was now carrying a large satchel, filled with things she had rummaged form the pod. Two Zats were stuck in her belt and the staff weapon she laid against the tree next to him.

Raylana reached into the satchel and withdrew a small cubic device. He hefted in her palm a moment.. Then threw it at the pod. It gracefully arced through the air, which considering its complete lack of aerodynamics would have been impressive if Lawson noticed such things at the moment, and attached with a magnetic sounding clink to the hull of the dented pod.

The device hummed.. lowly at first then building in decibels and frequency. it grew louder, higher in pitch, until it reached a mind altering crescendo.. The pod's metal surface glowed a bright white.. then the entire thing dissipated into nothingness.

Gone.

Raylana sighed, regretfully and sadly, then looked down at Lawson, her only companion in this strange world.

_**"Let us go."**_ she said to him.

Not having anything to say, nor really able to say anything period, the shock-stricken Lawson numbly stood and started to lead the way through the trees.. back towards his familiar if damaged world..

Which didn't seem so familiar anymore.


	4. Chapter 4 posted March 10th 2005

_**Author's Note:** I am sorry for the huge lapse between chapters. My real life became a mess, with divorce and such. I hope I can start adding weekly if not twice a week to this story now that things are calming down._

It wasn't raining anymore.

The pod, or whatever it had been, and the hideous alien-like humanoid soldier were now just so much ash after the woman, was it Sitka or Raylana, had vaporized one, then another.

A slow trek through the forest towards the road didn't clear his mind but had, in the least, gotten hi body itself slightly out of shock. But he was tired. So damned tired. It was like Gravity was a hundred times stronger then usual, trying to pull him down and smother him against the mud-ridden forest floor.

The woman watched the human carefully as they made their way past trees that had not burned away from the falling 'meteors'. Inside her dual mind a conversation between the host and it's partnered symbiote was going on, unheard in the real world.

**_/This is not a good idea/_**, Raylana told Sitka again for the, **_/We're at too much risk of being exposed if we stay around this human any longer. We saved his life. That is enough. We owe him no more then that./_**

The young human host mentally shook her head at her partner. _/He's harmless, Sitka. He can't do anything to hurt us. Besides, what do you suggest we do? Kill him?_

The symbiote replied with a mentally generated raspberry, something she had learned from her young friend. **_/Don't be crass, girl. Of course not. But if we leave him now, we no longer risk our exposure or his own safety. You forget, my friend, that The Tauri don't make known the existence of the Chappa'ai or the universe beyond their own world to their citizens. At this moment we could be scarring his very psyche./_**

_/Oh please, Raylana. I know you are actually fond of humans, more so then your fellow symbiotes but sometimes I believe you underestimate the resilience of the human mind. Besides, look at him. He comes from a race that hasn't known direct Goa'uld rulers for many millennia. That speaks something about how strong willed his ancestors were to throw off their shackles and rise up as no other human world ever has./_

_**/Sitka, dear, I love you as a friend and almost as my own child but really, just look at the boy. His mind is obviously overloaded by the mere fact that his worldviews have been altered irrevocably. If we leave now, the next time he sleeps and wakes up he'll probably just put it off as a dream born of the terrible incident Anubis inflicted on his world./**_

Now it was Sitka's turn to make a rude sound at her 'secret friend'. /Ray, please. We don't have much choice in this matter. He knows what we are, to a point at least. He knows the area. He knows how to fit in. We don't. So we need him or else the surviving agents of Anubis may find us. Do you think we're the only survivors from the fleet/

Both Host and Symbiote took a moment to look at their ward, both noticing he hadn't so much as looked towards them or notice their silence. He was just trudging listlessly along, like a man lost and tired.

Raylana sighed deeply within her host's head. A mental sound of defeat. _**/Fine, Sitka. You win. But don't say I didn't warn you. So. What is our strategy? Just follow him? I doubt he even knows where he is going./**_

_/Have faith, Raylana./_

And so again they walked in silence with their human guide. Within another 10 minutes they stood on the edge of a paved road. There were scorch marks and a crater from a nearby strike, no longer smoldering after the rain. Even with the sky mainly dark with black clouds and smoke, the temperature was getting hotter and sticky.

Lawson looked slowly down the road. One way, then another. Finally he pointed to a vehicle that was on the side, half on and off the curb. Apparently unoccupied. "There." He said dully. "We can use that. I live not too far away."

The vehicle, which the human called a Charger, was an odd one to the blended Tok'ra. It was heavy and sort of boxy, yet curved, and painted a deep black. It's ends were made of some shiny metal and it sat on rubber wheels. Raylana had to fight the urge to raise Sitka's eyebrow in a quizzical way.

The doors, it seemed, were locked. It looked to Raylana they needed a key or opening device of sorts to unlock it for their use. Before she could produce a tool to help with that, Lawson reared up and kicked the Driver's side window as hard as he could.

Both human and symbiote winced as the glass imploded in pebbles. Using his sleeve to protect his hand, Lawson whipped the remaining glass in the doorframe away, pulled on the locking mechanism, then opened the door and wiped the glass as best off the seat before sliding in.

He reached across and unlocked the passenger side door.

The Tok'ra slipped into the seat and was immediately surprised by the strange luxury of the vehicle. Two seats, like buckets in the front and a bench in the back. All covered in what she swore was the cured and shiny leather of some creature that must have been black color.

She studied the dashboard. Her own side was pretty much blank. In the middle was a console with some sort of device that had a digital display and, at odds with the almost modern facing, a series of Knobs, sliders and vents above it. In front of Lawson and the steering device that looked strangely like a wheel there were.. Indicator meters? It was odd, the mixed levels of technology in this strange human vehicle.

She saw that the post on which the wheel was mounted was a slit much like the one on the door. Another Key? Maybe to start it? She was about to Ask when Lawson pulled some wires from a panel beneath the column and started rubbing a few together. There were a few clicks.. a few sparks.. and suddenly the vehicle **ROARED** to life.. Like some powerful monster.

Neither Sitka nor Raylana had ever been in such a contrivance. The rumbling was enough to rattle her to her teeth. Lawson sat back, a hand on the wheel and one on a stick between their seats.

"Hold on." He told her, not mentioning anything about restraining devices to protect them. Sitka blinked and was about to say something again when he floored one of the petals, shifted a few times on the stick, and floored the other pedal.

Gravity pushed her deep into the cushioned leather seat and she let out a yelp, Raylana laughing at her host within Sitka's head.

And they were off.


	5. Chapter 5 posted March 11th 2005

_Somewhere in Alabama…_

Deep in the swamp a fire was quenched.

The scorched metallic sphere sat half sunken in the mire, no longer steaming as the murky water had cooled it to the surrounding temperature. The long trench that had been furrowed through the swamp had quickly filled, leaving no trace that this enigma from the heavens had actually crashed and wasn't instead some strange anomaly that had risen from the depths of the swamps.

The alligator had returned to this area less then 30 minutes ago, swimming through the channels of the swamp, uncaring of the lightshow far above that had ended a few hours previous. It was only interested in the strange thing that now was within its personal territory.

The fourteen footer swam languidly around the object, able to feel the residual heat still in the water warming it's cold blood. Was this thing an egg?

And just like an egg, it did suddenly crack open. The gator, wary, swam closer towards the seam. It could smell something familiar yet different.

Meat. But not a meat is was familiar with.

Not that it mattered. The Gator was ravenous now. All the prey had fled the area with the firestorm. He needed sustenance. So he kicked off with his tail and poked his snout into the sphere.

And a black gauntlets lashed out and grabbed the Gator's torso and twisted, snapping the reptiles back in one fell use of deadly force. The black gloved hands dropped the carcass back into the swamp, and retreated within the metallic shell.

The swamp was quiet once more, except for the sound of shallow breathing from within the egg that had spawned death.


	6. Chapter 6 posted March 11th 2005

The trip was in silence.

Lawson drove across the land bridge between Pensacola and it's outlying suburb of Pace. Sitka looked out the window in utter fascination at the swamp-like bay, churned to mud and still steaming from the Anubis's orbital strike. In the distance, great plumes of black rose, barely discernable against the already dark ashen sky.

The road was surprisingly empty. As if people had already made their trek out of town or decided to sit out the now silent post 'storm' time. There were a number of abandoned vehicles, both on the side of the road and in the lanes, but Lawson drove around it all, shifting that stick (which Raylana told Sitka most likely shifted some power gear system) with grim deftness.

Down a few side roads off the highway, and finally into a cul-de-sac, the Charger pulled into the driveway of a small, redbrick two story house. The streetlights had come on, meaning that this part of town still had power, amazingly.

Lawson let the car idle a few moments, just staring at the small house wordlessly. Sitka became worried that this either wasn't their destination, or that the human had lapsed into shock again, when Lawson finally reached under the steering column and pulled a few wires.

The car shivered, coughed, and died.

From the car Lawson lead them to the door. He seemed to fumble for something in his pockets then mumbled an apology about having lost his keys. He leaned over a small flowerpot and tipped it over and pulled a key hidden in it's false bottom out, then opened the door and led the Tok'ra inside.

Neither Host or Symbiote had ever been inside a Tauri house before, and at once they were surprised by it's Eclectic ness. Raylana knew that there were many cultures on Earth, having spoken with Selmak and Jacob on many occasions, and reading many of the cultural reports Stargate Command had given her brethren. So, thus, Sitka knew as well everything that Raylana knew.

So while the pair were not human specialists by any means, they both realized that nothing in the house fit together. But at the same time everything did, in some way, compliment each other. Old battered furniture that looked actually very comfortable. Bookshelves that were filled to the edge with countless books. Knick-knacks and things that seemed to come from dozens of earth cultures. And mixed in with all the slightly antiquated furnishings was unfamiliar but still easily recognizable technical equipment. Something that looked like a viewer of sorts with a large screen. A communications device. An 'entertainment system'. Even a computer.

But Lawson didn't give a tour.. He had flopped out on the couch when the Tok'ra wasn't looking and was snoring softly, his tense body convulsed and relaxed as if he had just burnt out everything and let go.

The Tok'ra sighed. Both of her.

**_/I think our host is out for a while/ _**Raylana told Sitka.

_/He's probably had a long day. Physically and mentally. We should probably let him rest./_

The Tok'ra looked around once more, looking at everything around her. _/I'm tired as well, Ray. Do you think he has a room for us to sleep in/_

_**/I would think so. From the looks of this house it has a few rooms which are probably dedicated to rest. Let us find one, because you are right. You are tired and still recovering from the escape. I will need time to fix a few of the damages within you./**_

Sitka sent a thought of relief to her friend. While Lawson hadn't seen it, beneath her clothes she had spotted a number of cuts and bruised. A testament to her Goa'uld captors. She had, with the symbiote's help, put the pain aside but now the effort was catching up with her.

_/Then lets find a bed. And thank you, Ray, for looking out for me./_

Mentally, Raylana brushed that aside, but with tenderness. **_/We are one, Sitka. Your pain is mine. My pain is yours. You risk you life for me, so it is only fair I do the same. So lets get you fixed up. We have a long day, probably, tomorrow./_**

Lawson stirred, pawing at the darkness. In his mind he was screaming as the Jackal-headed alien rushed him with it's staff. And just as the snake headed staff struck him the scream pierced the veil of dream and spilled from his lips.

She shot upwards, panting as he cut the scream off. Sloughing the nightmare off like some dark evil muck he quickly looked around, eyes wild and shining even in the dimness.

He was home.

He looked at his hands, wondering if everything had just been a bad dream. The Jackal. The Alien Woman with two voices. The Meteors from the sky.

He pulled the at curtain over the window next to the couch and peeked outside. The sky was dark and he could see the muted glow of Pensacola across the bay. Not from lights, of which there were few on, but from the still burning fires.

Then he caught sight of the black Charger in his driveway and he knew.

It wasn't a dream.

But that meant…

He quickly slipped out of bed and stood, scared literally out of his mind. There was an alien somewhere near by. The shock that had almost incapacitated him before lifted like a fog. Where was she.. or they… Damnit all.

He quickly ran through the house, looking through room after room. The Kitchen. The bathroom. The bedroom he had turned into his office and the spare room that doubled at the moment of storage.

Finally he came to his own bedroom, the largest in the small house and blinked at what he saw. The young woman lying asleep in his bed. She was curled into a fetal position, tangled in the blankets that covered her now undressed body. He could see the telltale signs of scars on that fair flesh. Her clothes were pooled on the floor next to the bed

He studied her face, dumbly, his mind in turmoil. There was an alien sleeping in his bed. Naked. An alien with a second strange voice that scared the piss out of him. What did he do.

Call the police? The National Guard?

Then he shook his head as realization creeped over him. She had saved his life. She had never threatened him. And looking at her, just _looking, _he didn't see an alien that had killed a monster. He just saw a young woman, vulnerable, who needed rest like him.

So he turned away and closed the door, letting the young woman have her privacy while he went back downstairs to figure out just what to do.


End file.
